Challenges and choices for patients and carers in life-threatening illnesses

An accessible and candid study of human experience in major illnesses and end-of-life care evidenced and illustrated by real life case stories

Provides a clear description of the reality of illness and caring, highlights the challenges and choices involved, and encourages therapeutic practice

Written by specialists who work in palliative care settings and bereavement counselling, it is a masterful integration of the psychological, social, and spiritual, offering an understanding of these crucial facets of the holistic approach to working with people in end of life care

How do people face life-limiting illness and death? This challenging question is discussed in-depth in Life to be Lived by looking at the feelings, hopes, fears and stresses associated with life-threatening illnesses, often experienced by patients and their carers.

Drawn from research, clinical, and pastoral
experiences, the authors examine the process of adjustment that patients and their families go through in major illnesses and when approaching the end of life. Life to be Lived is written in an accessible style using many stories shared by counsellors, chaplains, patients and relatives.

Describing the messiness, uncertainties, and paradoxes that are part and parcel of living through an advanced illness, dying, and bereavement, but also what helps and heals, it reviews a range of responses to the challenges to patients and carers and the support, both personal and organisational.

Life to be Lived is essential reading for professionals and
trained volunteers who work as a part of multidisciplinary teams in palliative and end-of-life care to improve their understanding of the attitudes and behaviour of patients and carers. Families and friends will also benefit from this book as they try to come to terms with their own situations and how they can cope better with them.

Readership: Professionals and trained volunteers who work in palliative and end-of-life care as well as patients, families, and friends dealing with life-threatening illnesses.

Dr Catherine Proot is a psychology graduate of Ghent University Belgium and holds a counselling diploma and a PhD from the UEA in Norwich. Psychotherapist and clinical supervisor she has specialised in palliative and bereavement care since 2005. She currently works as Psychological Specialist in Palliative Care and Bereavement Coordinator in St Nicholas Hospice Care in Bury St
Edmunds, UK.

The Very Revd Michael Yorke is a Cambridge graduate in Law and Theology. He also studied at The Tavistock Institute in London and the UEA in Norwich. He is a retired Anglican Priest who worked principally in and through four Cathedrals. He has 45 years of experience as a counsellor and was for 18 years a Samaritan three of which as National Chairman. He is currently Vice Chairman to the Norfolk Hospice near Kings Lynn, UK.

"This publication offers an inspiring way for people in contemporary society to review death as part of life." - David Oliviere, St Christopher's Hospice

"This book is about the suffering associated with life-threateneing illness, how some patients and their families seem to manage better, and how good holistic care (with an emphasis on the spiritual aspects of that care) provided by the professional carers may help ameliorate that sufering. Anyone who works in palliative care will be better off for having read this book and reflected on what it says in the context of their own work." - Roger Woodruff, IAHPC
News

Part 1: The patient experience
1: The challenge of illness and pain
2: All may not be lost
3: Trials and adjustment
4: Towards a changed outlookPart 2 : The impact on family carers
5: Demands on the family
6: Lives taken over
7: Coping with change
8: Some personal consequences for the carerPart 3: The professional carers and their roles
9: Challenges for the professional carer
10: The power and limitations of words
11: Talking with patients
12: Chaplaincy and spiritual carePart 4: Boundaries and resources
13: Blurred boundaries
14: A wealth of resourcesPart 5: The next step
15: The next step

The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.